'Unseen' News and Views
New York/Geneva, 19 April 2021 (WMO)* – Extreme weather combined with COVID-19 in a double blow for millions of people in 2020.
However, the pandemic-related economic slowdown failed to put a brake on climate change drivers and accelerating impacts, according to a new report compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and an extensive network of partners.
– Since the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) was launched in 2006, yields have barely risen, while rural poverty remains endemic, and would have increased more if not for out-migration.
Timothy A. Wise
AGRA was started, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, to double yields and incomes for 30 million smallholder farm households while halving food insecurity by 2020.
There are no signs of significant productivity and income boosts from promoted commercial seeds and agrochemicals in AGRA’s 13 focus countries. Meanwhile, the number of undernourished in these nations increased by 30%!
When will we ever learn?
What went wrong? The continuing Indian farmer protests, despite the COVID-19 resurgence, highlight the problematic legacy of its Green Revolution (GR) in frustrating progress to sustainable food security.
Giving a voice to soil organisms – our silent allies in the fight against hunger. FAO-hosted Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity kicks off
Closeup of worm culture. Worms are used to improve soil quality.ROME, 20 April 2021 (FAO)* –– The Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 19 April 2021 kicked off with a call to preserve this vast community of living soil organisms and the vital ecosystem services they provide.
(UN News)* — Although they represent the greater part of the world’s cultural diversity and speak the major share of its languages, indigenous people are three times more likely to live in extreme poverty, the UN chief told the opening session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Monday [19 April 2021].
In the 1980s hysteria stopped being treated as a medical disorder. Since then, it has become the business model of the neoliberal age
15 April 2021 (FAO)* — In 1826, the genial French gastronome Brillat-Savarin penned the phrase “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”
A microbiome is the genome of all the microorganisms living in and on all vertebrates. Though a new science, it is already helping us better understand the relationship between food and non-communicable diseases. ©Kateryna Kon/shutterstock.com
Two hundred years later, pathbreaking research suggests that what we eat doesn’t just give us fuel and pleasure but also feeds the trillions of microbes in our gut microbiome, and thus constitutes one of the most consequential interactive exposures we have to our environments.
Photo: Akshar Foundation / 16 Apr 2021
They are participating in a ground-breaking scheme in Assam, India, that allows low-income families to use single-use plastic in lieu of money to pay for private schooling.
Deepika’s parents are manual labourers and this unique payment method means the 13-year-old, who dreams of becoming a doctor, can access a quality education, which would otherwise be out of her family’s financial reach.
– Last week Ministers of Finance met virtually at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to discuss policies to tackle the pandemic and socio-economic recovery.
Biden’s U-Turn on Pledge Heightens Risks to Civilians in Yemen, Libya
Southern Transitional Council forces backed by the United Arab Emirates prepare to storm the presidential palace in the southern port city of Aden, Yemen on August 9, 2019. © 2019 AP Photo
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 